timurangin@yahoo.com

Menu

the innauguration of Sio Limbona (the legislative body in Buton Sultanate)

Today, Buton’s people discuss about how to revitalize the Buton Sultanate. I’m amazing because they still talking about the past without a concept of present and future. They just say that an action is needed because Buton culture is in endangering situation. What they meant with an action is an effort to restore the Buton Sultanate which was dismissed in more than 50 years ago. They want to back to the past but their legs are still in present time. Furthermore, they want to rebuild the Buton Kingdom. When I asked them what the reason, they do not have the right answer. They think a sultan or a king is someone who has all of answer for today’s problems.

Many anthropologists said this is a romanticism view in culture. If you are a romanticist, you will think that the past time always better than today. You will see the past time with idealistic thinking. You will see everything in the past is right and never wrong. All of cultures have the tendency to guide their follower into idealistic thinking. They insist everything in the same situation with everything in the past. They have a statical thinking as their ancestor in the past, so they talk about the preservation of culture. The problem is rise when we talk about how to solve the problem today. The idea of preserving culture is fail to understand the complex of reality today.

bonto ogena (prime minister)

Actually, we still live on today. We must face our problem today with our best effort. The restoration of Buton Sultanate cannot answer what our problem now especially about economy, politics, and also moral ethic. The reservation of our tradition is only fulfills the interest of a group of people which have privilege in the past. I believe we must find interpret our tradition and make it progress to answer our problem today. I think we must find the dynamic effects in our culture to practice in our daily live. I hope someday they will understand what I want to say. In this situation, what can I do?